July 03, 2021

01

Self-awareness,
self-discipline,
and self-sacrifice
are the sine-qua-non
of the way to The Way.

Sitting in the silence
for twenty minutes
at least once a day.

Practicing being open to
and aware of the present moment
(And watching all of the 
Jon Kabat-Zinn Youtube videos
(The shortest ones first) to
prepare yourself for the practice).

Reading the moment and your response
to it,
moment-by-moment
in each situation as it arises.

Being aware of what is going on.

Knowing what you know.

Feeling what you feel.

Seeing what you look at.

Hearing what is being said,
including what you are saying.

Saying what needs to be said.

Asking all of the questions
that beg to be asked.

Allowing your natural nature
to lead the way--
without contrivance,
or concern with advantage/gain/benefit/profit.

Living with sincerity and spontaneity.

Living with compassion and concern,
and without judgment or opinion
beyond knowing what is good
and serving it
in response to what is called for
and is appropriate to the occasion,
in doing what needs to be done,
when it needs to be done,
the way it needs to be done,
here and now
forever.

Requires/demands/necessitates
self-awareness,
self-discipline,
and self-sacrifice,
moment-by-moment,
day-by-day,
our entire life long.

–0–

02

"Know Thy Self,"
advised the Delphic Oracle.

"To Thine Own Self Be True,"
said William Shakespeare.

"Why don't you judge for yourselves
what is right?"
asked Jesus of Nazareth.

"Exhibit the face that was yours
before you were born!"
declared both Taoism and Zen.

Living aligned with
and in service to
our Original Nature--
being who we are naturally,
spontaneously,
sincerely--
without contrivance or avarice,
or ulterior motives of any kind,
has always been extolled and encouraged
by those who were doing that themselves,
throughout the ages.

It is the ground and foundation
of life lived in accord with
and filial devotion and allegiance
and liege loyalty to
The Way at the Heart of Life and Being.

It is never any more difficult
than knowing what we know
and doing what needs to be done about it
in each situation as it arises
throughout our life.

–0–

03

When we make peace with ourselves
and our place in life,
and each situation as it arises,
here and now is always 
a good-enough place to be.

And that is the still point,
the Axis Mundi,
the center around which 
the world
and the cosmos
turn. 

It is the fulcrum,
the pivot point,
levering the next moment,
and the future,
into place.

It is not a physical place,
but an attitudinal location,
a point of view,
a perspective
that transforms existence,
and positions us 
to receive well what comes our way,
and in so doing,
to transform it
into an experience with amazement and wonder.

All because of the way
we look at things. 

That changes everything.

Perspective transcends existence.

And that makes all the difference.